


Shot in the Dark

by gelowo93



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Minor Character Death, School Shootings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-28
Updated: 2013-10-28
Packaged: 2017-12-30 18:10:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1021802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gelowo93/pseuds/gelowo93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin and Arthur don't get along. Fact. But when  gunmen go on a rampage through their university, they end up having to look out for one another, and what was them disliking each other was perhaps just a misunderstanding all along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shot in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to wyvern for beta-ing this for me.
> 
> For prompt #36: Arthur has bullied Merlin ever since Uni started. Merlin is the stereotypical book warm, and Arthur is the stereotypical jock, both boys don't really know what to think of one another, though hate would be to harsh a word. Arthur secretly admires Merlin's intelligence, and Merlin admires Arthur's athleticism even though he's a posh git.  
> One morning, a shooter goes on a rampage and both boys end up huddled together in the supply closet. It's amazing how a one traumatic event can change things.

**_Monday 15:20_**

It was another hot day at the end of September, but while Merlin wasn’t one to complain about the Indian summer, it was an uncomfortable heat with high humidity that made it feel like he was inhaling a bucket of water with every breath. Everywhere he went he was sweaty and uncomfortable; it was enough to make him wish for winter. Even though it was cold, Merlin knew what to wear for the weather, and there was always the prospect of snowball fights to get him through the dark and depressing days.

That of course he didn’t cheat in. It wasn’t his fault if his magic sometimes took on a life of its own and would make his aim better than it was.

But right now it didn’t matter how much Merlin wanted it to be colder, winter just didn’t appear to be coming and he was forced to do whatever he could to make himself cooler. This was what had prompted him to suggest to Will and Freya that they find some shade outside and spend their free hour there, rather than stay in the library with the broken air conditioning. They had readily agreed, and gone to search out a spare bit of grass under a tree that wasn’t already taken. It had taken some time, but they had eventually found one in a secluded part of campus, hidden from the usual hustle and bustle of student life and where it was unlikely that anyone would disturb them.

While Merlin had got out a book he had taken out the library earlier in the week, Freya had pulled out a sketch pad and started drawing. Will, on the other hand, had leaned against a tree, not doing anything productive but trying to strike up a conversation with Merlin and Freya. He had failed miserably, as they were too busy concentrating on their work, and had then started texting, the incessant buzzing of his phone annoying Merlin so much that he turned around and lay down on the grass facing away from the others so he could concentrate on his book.

By some miracle, Merlin managed to get through half a chapter of the textbook without being distracted.  When he saw movement at the top of his vision Merlin glanced up, but quickly returned his gaze to his book when he saw who it was.

Arthur Pendragon and his gang of friends had settled themselves on the grass not far from where they were relaxing, gang being the best word to describe them. The boys were all on the football First team and walked around campus as if they owned the place, which, Merlin supposed, was partly true in Arthur’s case, whose father was the Vice-Chancellor. Still, it didn’t excuse the fact that they were downright rude to anyone who they didn’t get on with from their first meeting. Somehow they hadn’t grown out of the bullying phase that most teenagers went through during high school, because they still found it amusing to make fun of anyone who actually put effort into their education.

Like Merlin was doing now.

Merlin kept his eyes down, trying to focus on what he was reading but none of the words were making sense. His eyes didn’t stray from the page, but his brain was too busy trying to ignore Arthur and his gang, and he didn’t realise that he hadn’t moved onto the next sentence until a shadow fell over him.

 “Hey, Merlin.”

“What do you want, Arthur?” Merlin didn’t let himself look up from the book, and pretended to be reading it. For one, he knew that not having Merlin’s full attention would piss Arthur off. For another, Merlin knew what would happen if he looked at Arthur, and he didn’t fancy turning into a blithering idiot who couldn’t get a sentence out properly.

“I just came over to say hello. What are you reading?”

Merlin sighed, wondering how many of his short answers Arthur would put up with before he went back to his gang. Behind him, Will and Freya had gone quiet. Merlin didn’t have to turn around to know how they were reacting to Arthur’s presence: Will shooting him dark looks in between glancing at Freya and looking at the blade of grass he had undoubtedly uprooted and was tearing to pieces, his teeth gritted. Freya, on the other hand, would have pulled her knees to her chest, trying to appear as small as possible, but her gaze would be set on the pencil and paper in her hands, focussed on her drawing.

“It’s a book for our World War Two module.”

“A bit early to be doing the reading for the exam, isn’t it?” Hearing the grin in Arthur’s voice, Merlin could picture his expression, his lips tight in an attempt to suppress the laughter that threatened to burst out of him. Merlin felt his face heat and hunched his shoulders slightly – a reflex reaction to make himself appear smaller that he had perfected when he was bullied in Secondary school.

“I try to stay ahead so that I’m not stressed in deadline week.”

“I should probably do that this year, last year was hectic.”

“Mmhmm.”  Merlin had completely forgotten what point the paragraph he had been reading was trying to make, but he kept his head down, one eye on Arthur’s feet. Arthur didn’t try to prompt a conversation, but he also didn’t leave. “Look, I’m trying to read, was there anything you wanted?”

His tone must have been harsher than Merlin had intended it to be judging by Arthur’s sudden hesitation; the weight shifted from one leg to the other and he made several quiet umm-ing sounds before replying.

“I was just wondering if you knew where our next lecture is? My phone died so I can’t check the online timetable.”

Merlin sighed. It was a feeble excuse to come over and annoy him, but knowing Arthur – which, admittedly, he didn’t – it was likely to be true. Arthur was always the one who would turn up to lectures a few minutes late, not enough to disrupt the lecture but enough to annoy the rest of the students, and every time Merlin had been unfortunate enough to sit near him, Merlin had heard him asking the person next to him for spare paper in a too loud whisper. It wasn’t overly surprising to Merlin that Arthur would manage to let his phone die and not have any other way of checking his timetable, but really, there was no way that all of his friends had dead phone batteries too.

“Lecture theatre four in the Monmouth building.”

“Right, thank you.” He paused. “See you there.”

“Yeah.”

Merlin listened to his retreating footsteps, barely audible in the grass, and let out a breath of relief. When he was sure that Arthur was back with his friends and wouldn’t be paying attention, Merlin finally allowed himself to glance stealthily up at him.

Arthur and his gang were lounging on the grass in a rough circle, and Arthur was sat so that Merlin had a complete view of his profile, one knee bent, the other leg extended in front of him, with his muscular arms propping him up. His head was thrown back in laughter at a joke one of the others had made, the pink of his lips and flash of white teeth visible even at this distance. He was wearing snug jeans and a not quite tight-fitting shirt that hinted at muscles hidden beneath it. While Merlin watched, he ran a hand through his blonde hair so that it stuck up in all directions. One of the others – Gwaine, Merlin thought his name was – seemed to point this out to him, and blush coloured Arthur’s cheeks.

It was a shame that Arthur was such a dick, because, even if Merlin wouldn’t admit it to anyone, Arthur was one of the most attractive people he had ever met.

“Stop gawking, Merlin.”

Merlin jumped at Will’s voice and turned to look behind him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do. Just remember that he’s a twat.” Will’s gaze didn’t move from his torn up blade of grass, and it was obvious that he hadn’t even looked at Merlin in the first place. Freya was nodding absently, though whether that was in agreement with what Will was saying or she was happy about her drawing, Merlin didn’t know.

“I don’t need to remember that he’s a twat. It’s pretty obvious whenever I see him.”

“Yeah, you think he’s _pretty_ , alright.”

“Shut up.”

Ignoring Will, who continued to tease him about fancying Arthur, Merlin turned back to his book. He couldn’t concentrate anymore and gave it up as a bad job, but pretending he was reading was the perfect excuse to not have to listen to Will. As he turned back to his book, Merlin caught a glimpse of Arthur staring at him and his heart skipped a beat.

He passed it off as being scared of why Arthur was looking at him - what had he done, or what sort of prank was Arthur going to try to pull on him? Merlin didn’t glance up again to see if he had imagined it, and he spent the remainder of his free period sulking, wondering why the poshest dick he had ever met had to be ridiculously fit.

**_Monday 16:35_ **

_-im so bored this lecture is a waste of time. U goin 2 tell us wat u were talkin 2 Emrys abt b4?_

_if you paid attention then you might be less bored & i told you i was asking him about one of our modules. no big deal_

_-whtvr. Any excuse 2 talk 2 ur boyf_

_hes not my boyfriend I’ve barely even spoken to him before hes just the only person i know whos in that lecture_

_-sure. i believe u. is he with u now?_

_no i cant even see him in here stop texting me some of us want to pass uni_

_-nothin stoppin u frm not txting back. no need to take it out on me that ur in a mood cos u cant make puppy eyes @ ur boyf_

Arthur read the last text from Gwaine and stuffed his phone back in his pocket, avoiding eye contact with the people sat on either side of him. They had been glaring at him every time his phone vibrated. He hated Gwaine, he really did – he was nosy and interfering and didn’t know when to _shut the fuck up_ – and Arthur hated him even more when he was right.

Picking up his pen again, Arthur did his best to forget about Gwaine and return his attention to the lecturer. It was hard when the man had a nasal voice that made listening to him drone on about British foreign policy in the run up to the Second World War even more boring, something that Arthur hadn’t thought possible. But Arthur shouldn’t have been surprised, because all of his lecturers last year had been old men with greying hair and voices that sounded like they had breathed in too much dust from centuries old textbooks, and none of them had been able to make a lecture interesting There had been no reason to suppose that this year would be any different.

He wondered if he complained about it to his father then they’d hire someone younger next time, someone who wasn’t using the same core textbook as they had been doing twenty years ago.

After another five minutes of listening to the lecturer drone on, Arthur realised that he was repeating exactly was on the presentation slides without adding any information. That was enough for him to lose interest completely; the lecture slides were always uploaded onto the university’s online learning website anyway. Arthur preferred using them to revise from rather than his own notes, because he regularly missed important information when writing down what the lecturer was saying.  

Arthur let his eyes wander the small lecture theatre. There were only about 50 students there, most of them looking to the front and paying attention, while some were scribbling notes, and Arthur spotted a few like him, looking around at everyone else, or with their heads down, fiddling with their phones. A few rows down from him, Arthur recognised a mop of messy black hair and ears protruding from beneath it, making his stomach jolt. He ignored his body’s reactions to spotting Merlin, and paid attention to the way he was leaning forward, looking from the notes on his paper to the lecturer, and occasionally chewing on the end of his pen. As Arthur watched, Merlin pulled out his phone - he looked down at it for a few moments, putting his pen down, and Arthur guessed that he was replying to a text – before sliding it back into his pocket.

Arthur forced his gaze away from Merlin, imagining what Gwaine and the others would say if they caught him staring, but he couldn’t help his eyes drifting in Merlin’s general direction for the rest of the lecture.

It wasn’t fair how easily Gwaine could read him. He couldn’t remember ever talking about Merlin to them - the most they knew was that Arthur said hello to him if they saw each other, and would occasionally go to ask him about something in their lectures. Saying hello wasn’t that weird, and it wasn’t exactly a lie that Merlin was the only person that he knew in some of his lectures. He idly wondered if Gwaine could read minds and that was how he knew Arthur’s feelings towards Merlin weren’t simply platonic.

Arthur mentally shook himself. It didn’t matter anyway, he was almost certain that Merlin was straight. After all, he was friends with one of the most obnoxiously straight people Arthur had ever had the misfortune to meet – including Gwaine – and Merlin seemed to downright _hate_ him, for no apparent reason. Whenever he greeted him in the corridors, Merlin would glance at him, his expression blank, and mumble a reply. If Arthur approached him to ask him a question, as he had earlier, he would reply in short, blunt sentences as if all he wanted was for Arthur to go away. He didn’t understand it at all, and there was no way he would ever get a reason out of Merlin because that required him to actually _talk_ to him.

For what wasn’t the first time, Arthur wondered why he still bothered. Sure, Merlin was nice to look at, and Arthur might have once or twice thought about Merlin while wanking in the shower, but he wasn’t conventionally attractive, nor was he what Arthur would have considered to be his type. It was more that Arthur respected his intelligence; Merlin was always the one to answer questions during lectures, and not in a nerdy sucking-up-to-the-teacher way either. He’d answer and add his own viewpoint to it like he knew what he was saying, and occasionally he would ask questions about how something seemed to contradict itself that Arthur wouldn’t have noticed on his own. Merlin made the lectures interesting, and Arthur thought he would pay a lot more attention if Merlin was the one lecturing. Or maybe he wouldn’t, because Arthur found Merlin fascinating to look at; he was engrossed in the way Merlin’s eyes shone when he smiled, the way he moved with grace and confidence. He was a mystery that Arthur wanted to understand, but Merlin didn’t allow him to.

Around him, people started moving, packing things away in their bags and standing up, and it brought Arthur back to the present. He checked the time on his phone - they had finished five minutes early. But Arthur wasn’t one to complain, and he joined the rest of the class packing up, giving back the pen he had borrowed from his neighbour and putting his notebook in his bag.

“One minute,” the lecturer said over the sounds of people moving. Everyone froze, turning to look to the front of the lecture theatre at once, probably the first time in the past hour that everyone had done so. “As part of the assessment for this module you have to create a presentation on a given topic and present it to the class. I’ve assigned you all into pairs, and your partners and the topic you’ve been given is on the back of the lecture notes that were given out at the beginning. There are spares at the front if you didn’t get one.”

Groaning inwardly, Arthur shouldered his backpack and waited for his row to start moving so that he could get down to the desk at the front. He had to force his way through the crowd, but eventually he managed it and grabbed a piece of paper, deliberately avoiding the lecturer’s eyes. Arthur didn’t remember his name, but he was sure that he was one of his father’s friends, and Arthur didn’t fancy getting pulled into a conversation about how his father was, or how he was finding the course so far.

It was only when Arthur was out of the lecture theatre and wasn’t afraid of holding up the crowd that he stopped to look at the lecture notes. He skimmed one side of it and saw that it was just extra information about the topic they had been covering. Arthur flipped it over to find the list of names and project titles. At first he couldn’t find his own name, and he had to have another look down it, this time slower, until he found himself. His heart skipped a beat and then plummeted when he saw who he was partnered with.

_Merlin Emrys._

**_Tuesday 09:58_**

“Merlin. _Merlin_.”

Merlin contemplated continuing walking and pretending he hadn’t heard Arthur call after him – it was a busy corridor after all and it wouldn’t be hard to get lost in it so Arthur couldn’t find him. He carried on walking away from the lecture theatre they had just left and immediately walked into a human wall, where students trying to leave and those queuing for their next lecture blocked the hallway. A hand landed on his shoulder.

“Hey, Merlin.” Merlin turned around and almost head-butted Arthur – the corridor really was that crowded. Arthur was panting slightly, as if he’d been running to catch up, and he was frowning, creating creases between his eyebrows. “Were you ignoring me?”

“No, sorry, I mustn’t have heard you. Sorry.” Merlin tried not to look directly into Arthur’s eyes. Being this close to them made them look like glistening sapphires and if Merlin wasn’t careful he would get lost in them.

“Oh, okay. Sorry.” Arthur was fidgeting, shifting his weight from one leg to the other and picking at the skin around his fingernails. “I was wondering if you wanted to start on the presentation for our World War Two module? It isn’t due for a few weeks but I’m busy a lot of the time with football practice so I’d like to get a start on it.”

Merlin blinked in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting Arthur to find him to ask him about it. He had been planning on doing some background research and sending Arthur a basic structure so they could split up what they were each going to cover. They’d meet up once or twice nearer the deadline day to practice it and that would be it. Merlin prided himself on the plan involving as little contact with Arthur as possible, but now it seemed like Arthur was going to change that.

When Merlin had taken a look at the list of partners and topics his stomach had dropped and his mouth had gone dry. The last thing he wanted was to give Arthur more opportunities to approach him for no good reason, but apparently the universe had other plans. Deep down, Merlin knew that the lecturer had no idea that Merlin and Arthur didn’t get along and this wasn’t some bad joke, but that didn’t stop him from glaring at the lecturer throughout the lecture when he thought he wasn’t looking.

“Er, yeah. I’ve got a free hour. We can go to the library and get started on some background reading.”

“Great.” Arthur smiled, small and hesitant, and nothing like when Merlin had seen him yesterday laughing with his friends. That was an image that had been seared into his memory for the sheer beauty of it, despite all of Merlin’s attempts to forget how attracted he was to Arthur.

They walked to the library in silence. Merlin was reluctant to say anything, not wanting to give Arthur more material to bully him, but he was surprised that Arthur was being quiet. Whenever Merlin saw him, Arthur was talking, or laughing, or generally being loud, and not being so now was slightly unnerving. He was torn between thinking that Arthur was waiting until they were in the library to start bullying him, or that he was going to try to not be a dick to him while they were working together. Either way Merlin didn’t care that much; he had experience with bullies, and knew that if Arthur gave him too much trouble he could always ask the lecturer to reassign him a partner.

Merlin had thought about asking Bayard to switch partners as soon as he had seen his name next to Arthur’s on the sheet, but had decided not to. It was too much hassle to rearrange who was working with whom when Merlin hadn’t even tried to work with Arthur, and he had had his plan to keep face-to-face contact with him at a minimum, that Arthur had now ruined. But maybe it would turn out okay, maybe Arthur would turn out to be not as big an idiot as Merlin thought he was. He was willing to give Arthur that chance.

When they reached the library, Merlin headed down to the basement with Arthur following. The group study area was down there, and, as it was early and most people were still leaving lectures, there were a few free tables.

Merlin walked straight to the back of the room to his usual table. It was always quieter back here away from the centre of the room where the tables were packed together to fit as many in as possible. He dropped his bag on the floor next to a chair and pulled out the book he had been reading the previous day when Arthur had interrupted him. Arthur stood by the table awkwardly, fingering the strap of his backpack.

 “What’s our title, again?”

“You haven’t even looked at it, have you?” Merlin looked up, wondering why he had thought that Arthur was going to help with the project. He was probably going to sit here for the next hour complaining that reading was boring while Merlin risked cracking a tooth.

“I’m sorry, I had football practice last night, so no, I haven’t had time to memorise the title seeing as I was too busy preparing for the first match of the year,” Arthur said testily. “Are you going to tell me what it is so I can help?”

Merlin felt a bit bad about having assumed that Arthur didn’t care about the presentation, but he ignored it. “It’s how the economic conditions in Germany during the 1920s and 30s explain Hitler’s rise to power. You need to go to the second floor, find this section-” Merlin ripped a piece of paper out of his notebook and wrote down the bookcase code “- and bring back down any book that looks relevant.”

“Yes, sir.” Arthur mock saluted, taking the piece of paper, and dropping his backpack on one of the chairs. He turned around and had barely taken a step towards the staircase when, from above them, there were two loud bangs, quickly followed by screams.

Time seemed to stop. Everyone around them was in varying states of shock, some looking upwards at the ceiling, others turning - eyes wide - to their friends. Barely a second passed before the frozen state broke, and everyone began moving again, running behind bookcases, ducking into corners and dragging chairs to try to hide them. There was a rush of people towards the stairs to ground level and the exit. Merlin grabbed Arthur’s arm, ignoring his panicked “Merlin – what?” and pulled him around a corner, away from the staircase to the upper floors and along a short corridor, away from the busy areas of the library.

“Were those gunshots?” Arthur hissed, running to keep up with Merlin. “Merlin!”

“Have you never watched any American dramas? Yes, they were gunshots. Shut up and follow me.”

“We need to get out of here! Where are we going?” Arthur was panting and how he had got to be on the football team when he was getting out of breath after such a short run, Merlin had no idea.

“Everyone’s trying to get out. If the gunner wants to hurt people then they’re going to go where the most people are.”

Merlin was about to round a corner when there were another two loud gunshots from around the bend. Merlin stopped abruptly, causing Arthur to run into him. The bullets hit the wall just ahead of them. Merlin started to step backwards, walking into Arthur who was frozen to the spot, eyes wide.

“Move, _move_ ,” Merlin said in a low voice, pushing at Arthur to get him to move again.

It wasn’t ideal, but Merlin knew of somewhere they could hide. He pulled Arthur back down the corridor, their thundering footsteps making them easy to follow, but hopefully they’d get far enough ahead so that the second gunman wouldn’t be able to tell where they were going. Merlin dragged Arthur through the empty corridors at the back of the library that few students knew about, taking the first left, third right, straight on where two hallways met, to where Merlin knew there was a storage closet. He hoped the cleaners had forgotten to lock it as they normally did.

They could hear the sound of more gunshots behind them, but Merlin refused to look back. He knew exactly where he was going, and hoped that their winding path would confuse the gunner if they were still following them. Once, as they passed a junction, Merlin caught sight of the gunner down the corridor on the left, long blonde hair and holding a handgun, but he took the next turn and kept running, hoping that there were enough turns on the way to the hiding place to lose the gunner if they chose to follow.

They reached the closet with Merlin muttering prayers under his breath, heart in his throat, hoping that the door was unlocked. They were in luck, as the door swung open easily when Merlin turned the handle. Pushing Arthur inside, Merlin caught a brief glimpse of his face – pale, making his blue eyes and the pink of his lips stand out even more, but with his jaw set as if determined not to show his fear – before following him in and shutting the door, just as they could hear more gunshots overhead.

**_Tuesday 10:34_ **

It was pitch black in the closet, the only source of light being a strip between the bottom of the door and the floor. Merlin had pushed him into the closet a bit too forcefully, and Arthur had hit a shelf with his shoulder, causing things to tumble to the floor, and now every time he shifted his feet he could feel and hear the boxes moving around.

“Are you okay?” Merlin whispered. Arthur jumped, surprised at how close he sounded. From what he had seen of the cupboard before Merlin had shut the door on them, Arthur knew that there was little room but he hadn’t realised that Merlin would be quite so close to him, especially when he couldn’t even feel Merlin next to him.

“Fine. You?”

“Yeah.”

Arthur could hear his heartbeat as it pounded against his chest. He tried to relax, to take deep breaths, because there was no use panicking, not now. They were as safe as they could be; Merlin was right that everyone would be trying to get out and so would be prime targets, and if he panicked now he’d only do something stupid that would draw attention to them. He needed to stay calm and focussed. They were as safe as they could be. No one would find them here, not when even Arthur hadn’t realised this corridor existed, and he had spent many school holidays wandering around the campus and its buildings in an attempt to discover secret passageways.

“How did you know this place was here?”

“No reason,” answered Merlin too quickly, raising Arthur’s suspicion. He sounded embarrassed, like he was trying to avoid the question.

“Seriously. The cleaners normally lock all the store cupboards, how did you know this one would be open?”

Merlin didn’t reply straight away. His breathing became the only tell Arthur had as to gauge Merlin’s mood in the darkness. It was stable and calm, maybe slightly faster than was normal but that was to be expected given what was happening. There was nothing to suggest that Merlin felt any degree of discomfort at the question other than the fact that he was avoiding answering it.

When Merlin did answer, his voice was even quieter than it had been before and Arthur had to strain to hear him.

“I – erm – come back here sometimes. With people.”

“Oh my god,” Arthur said, belatedly realising that he had spoken too loudly when he felt Merlin put a hand over his mouth. They waited in silence to see if they had been overheard. When it seemed as though no one had been around to hear, Arthur pulled Merlin’s hand away and continued in a quieter tone of voice, “This is your quickie cupboard? I feel violated just being here, what were you thinking?”

“Shut up,” Merlin said, sounding as if he was speaking through gritted teeth. “It was either here or behind a bookshelf, where do you feel safer?”

Arthur had to admit that Merlin had a point, but knowing that he had had sex in here… Arthur took a step away from the shelf he had been leaning on and tried not to wonder about how often Merlin came back here, and who joined him. Not least because he would start imagining what it was like to suck Merlin’s cock in here, which would result in an obvious lump in his trousers. It was dark enough  that Merlin might not be able to see it, but if they accidently brushed against each other he would definitely feel it.

So instead, Arthur thought about the situation at hand. That there were people with guns in the library – or maybe they’d moved to somewhere else on campus by now – and they could go into any room and find a handful of terrified students, or worse, they could find his father’s office; he was supposed to be in there today sorting out paperwork.

“What do we do?”

“We stay in here.”

“But everyone else, whoever has the gun could be anywhere – ”

“I know.” Merlin’s voice was strained, and Arthur realised he was thinking about his own friends. “But they’ll have made themselves safe, you could probably hear those gunshots from the other side of campus.”

“I want to know what’s going on.”

“Me too, but going out now will only put us in danger. We have to wait until the police come. Now isn’t the time to be a hero.”

“You’re surprisingly calm about all of this.”

“I told you, I’ve watched a lot of TV. This sort of thing is always happening.” Despite his light hearted manner, Merlin’s voice had an edge to it that betrayed how scared he truly was.

“You’re an idiot.”

“You love it.”

Arthur smiled, thankful that Merlin couldn’t see him.

**_Tuesday 12:26_**

Neither of them had spoken for a while - listening, waiting - but there was nothing to hear apart from the sound of Arthur’s feet occasionally kicking the boxes on the floor, which made Merlin jump every time. They had no idea what was going on outside, because of course this would be one of the few places on campus where you couldn’t get a phone signal. Someone must have called the police by now though, and surely they were here.

Merlin wondered if they had caught the two gunmen yet (because there was no way that whoever had shot first upstairs had managed to get downstairs quickly enough for Merlin to see them) and if they were making sure everywhere was secure, doing the rounds and telling everyone that it was safe. He hoped they were. Merlin wasn’t sure what time it had been when they had heard the first gunshots, but it hadn’t been long after their lecture had ended, and now his phone was telling him that it was just past midday.

Over an hour in this closet with Arthur. Merlin was surprised that neither had killed the other yet.

From the sound of it, and from what Merlin could see from the glow of his mobile phone, Arthur was sat on the floor, knees tucked to his chest and his head in his hands. Merlin didn’t know what to say to comfort him, because as much as Arthur said that he was fine, it was obvious that he wasn’t, and that he was worried about his father and friends. Arthur was a man of doing, not of sitting around while other people got the situation under control, and it was clear that having to wait here pained him.

Merlin checked the time on his phone again.

It had been a whole two minutes since his last check.

The light from his phone lit up the small space, and before it dimmed back to power saving mode, Arthur’s head shot up.

“What was that?” he whispered.

Merlin had heard it too, but had dismissed it as Arthur’s feet brushing against a box on the floor again. Merlin strained his ears, trying to catch the sound again.

Footsteps.

They were too slow, too gentle, to be anyone coming to tell them it was safe. They stopped every now and again, and Merlin could imagine a faceless killer, pausing to check around corners for victims, or police, and then continuing down the corridor.

The footsteps grew louder, and Merlin’s heart sank, because that could only mean that they were getting closer. Merlin pressed a button on his phone to light it up again, and shone it towards the lock on the door, just to check, and –

His mouth went dry. He had forgotten to lock the door when they had shut themselves in, and doing so now would make a noise as it clicked into place, signalling to the gunman that they were here. It would be locked, but the building was old and the doors didn’t look like they would put up much of a fight if someone tried to kick them down.

Merlin didn’t dare breathe. He avoided looking at Arthur, unsure if he had realised the same thing. Hands shaking, the only thing left for Merlin to do was to repeat the same thought over and over in his head.

_Please don’t find us. Please._

A familiar tingling sensation spread over his skin, faint at first, but growing stronger as he kept repeating his mantra.

The quiet was broken by another set of footsteps, these ones running, and the noise they made was thunderous in the almost silence.

Two gunshots.

A _thud._

Merlin winced. He closed his eyes, feeling them start to water and he forced the tears back. The sound of his heartbeat blocked out everything else, and he kept his mantra going, repeating it until his body wasn’t enough to contain his magic and it seeped out into the air around him. Merlin could sense its presence in the room, swirling around, stretching and expanding to fill up the small space. Pushing against the walls, trying to find a way out, the pressure of his magic kept increasing as Merlin kept his thoughts focussed and more and more of his magic built up inside the closet.

With no warning, the pressure lessened. Merlin stumbled back a step but caught himself before he fell on something or caused everything on the shelf behind him to fall. Opening his eyes, he saw the closet filled with what looked like golden smoke, harmless and twinkling slightly in the darkness, and Merlin watched it thin as it left through the gap between door and floor. Soon the room was pitch-black again, and as the magic travelled further away from him, Merlin could sense it less and less, but he felt it when it had reached its target.

His magic surrounded the person, encasing them in the invisible force before it was absorbed into their body to distract them from their search. The footsteps that must have been less than a metre away stopped.

Merlin had never used his magic in this way before. For the most part it seemed to act by itself and he had no choice in the matter, like the incident during high school when he had made the bullies’ trousers disappear. Occasionally, he could get it to do little things, such as moving objects around but not much more than that.

What it was doing now was on a whole other level. Merlin could feel the magic fighting with the consciousness of the other person, telling whoever it was to _move on, there’s no one here_. The person was fighting back, and Merlin concentrated harder, desperate to overcome them, and any qualms he had about taking away someone’s free will were silenced because if he didn’t do this, Arthur and he would soon be dead.

Slowly, Merlin could feel his magic winning, forcing the other person to succumb to his will, and finally, where before there had been resistance, there was nothing.

Merlin didn’t dare breathe as he listened to the footsteps fade, and even when he couldn’t hear them anymore he kept still. It had worked, it must have. His magic had kept the gunner away, and Merlin had never been more thankful that the laws of physics had skipped him and given him his little bit of the impossible. No matter how much trouble it had ever caused him, or would cause him in the future, he made a silent promise to never complain about it again because there was a good possibility it had just saved his and Arthur’s lives.

A few minutes later, Arthur’s whispered voice broke the silence.

“Do you think they’ll come back?”

“I hope not.”

It was only a white lie, so Merlin didn’t feel too bad about it. Arthur’s voice had been a little shaky though, as if he couldn’t quite hold back the fear he felt, and Merlin wanted to reassure him. He wanted to tell him that no, the gunner wasn’t going to come back, because he could feel his magic out there protecting them in case anyone were to come back to harm them. Merlin wasn’t sure where this sudden protective urge came from – deep down, Merlin knew that Arthur was still a posh twat who probably couldn’t stand the sight of him – but seeing him helpless and on edge as he was now was enough to make Merlin wonder whether he had been too quick to judge Arthur. That thought that made his stomach clench in guilt, because judging people on first impressions was something he disliked Arthur for. Maybe Arthur wasn’t being an arrogant bully when he tried to talk to Merlin, maybe he was just being friendly.

“Merlin?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

**_Tuesday 13:03_**

Arthur didn’t know where the words had come from. His heart had been loud as thunder listening to the footsteps get closer, and when they had grown quieter and quieter until they were impossible to hear, relief had flooded through him and he had spoken before he had time to think about what he was saying.

But now he had had the time to think about it, he realised that he hadn’t lied.

Call him reckless, but in situations like this Arthur would rather be out there in the line of fire. Feeling the fear and adrenaline pumping through his veins, and allowing them to fuel his actions  pushed him to do his best, similar to how it did during the football matches when they were 2 – 1 down with ten minutes left to play for the championship.

And they had never lost a championship game.

Sitting here and waiting, however, left little to do except allow the fear to overwhelm you, unless there was something to distract you, Arthur knew. While Merlin hadn’t been the best of companions, knowing that he was here, had been comforting. Without him, Arthur would have gone made with worry.

Merlin hadn’t spoken since Arthur had admitted that he was grateful for his company. Now Arthur was concerned that Merlin had taken it the wrong way, especially knowing what Merlin was accustomed to doing in here. Not that Merlin had any reason to suspect that Arthur was attracted to men – he wasn’t in the metaphorical closet, but didn’t exactly go around flaunting his sexuality.

“What do we do now?” Arthur asked.

“You’ve really never watched any American TV before, have you? We wait for the police to come and clear the place out.”

Arthur sighed. He was just going to have to accept that he couldn’t do anything. If he tried to leave, Merlin would do his best to hold him back, and fighting would draw attention to them if the gunman was still out there. Though why Merlin would be bothered if he went out Arthur didn’t know; as far as he could remember, Arthur had never been horrible to Merlin, and yet Merlin still seemed to hate him. If Arthur went out and the gunner saw him, it would keep whoever it was away from Merlin, who would stay safe in his closet.

“Why do you hate me?”

“What?” Merlin said, surprised. “I don’t hate you.”

Arthur wasn’t convinced.

“Well, you don’t like me, and whenever I try to talk to you, you barely reply. If I said something that offended you once, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise. If it was during Fresher’s Week – well, I was hung-over for most of it, I wasn’t always at my most polite.”

Arthur waited for Merlin to reply. He didn’t have to wait for too long, but when Merlin spoke, his voice was small.

“When you come over and talk to me when I’m with other people… I was bullied at school, and that’s what they’d do. I’d be minding my own business and they’d start asking me about what I was doing. They’d laugh at me, go back to the rest of their friends, and on the way home they’d corner me. They were all on the football team, too.” Merlin paused. “Sorry.  I suppose I thought you’d be the same, so I went back to how I’d always cope with them.”

_Oh_. Well, that made sense, even if it offended Arthur a little that Merlin hadn’t bothered to get to know him and had just assumed he was another bully. But then, Arthur had never been unfortunate enough to be bullied, and hadn’t had to learn how to cope with that and deal with the psychological impacts that it caused. If he had been bullied before and then someone else started behaving the same way towards him… Arthur would probably be wary of them too.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I was just trying to be friendly.”

“It’s not your fault. And I honestly don’t hate you.”

“Really?”

“I may have misjudged you.”

Arthur smirked slightly, but hastened to make his expression neutral again in case Merlin could hear it in his voice.

“If that’s the only apology I’m going to get, I suppose I’ll accept it.”

“Oh, you’re so _arrogant_ ,” Merlin said, his whisper not enough to mask the harsh tone of his voice. Arthur flinched. “I wasn’t actually wrong about you, was I? You think you’re better than everyone else and deserve everyone’s admiration just because you’re on the football team and your dad’s in charge of the university. You just stroll into lectures late and disrupt everyone because you’ve forgotten a pen, or paper, and then you spend the rest of the lecture on your phone. You can kick a ball across a field and you have everyone practically worshipping at your feet and you expect us all to do the same – well, I don’t care if you’ve got a perfect arse or if you look really fucking sexy after a match when you’re all sweaty. I don’t care that, if I could, I’d jump you in the changing room and fuck you right there, because I’m still not getting on my knees for you.”

At some point during Merlin’s rant, Arthur’s jaw had dropped and he sincerely hoped that Merlin couldn’t see him in the darkness, because he was certain that the dumbstruck look on his face wasn’t in the least bit attractive. Merlin’s outburst had been completely unexpected and Arthur didn’t know what he should think about first: that despite saying that he didn’t hate him, Merlin apparently did a little bit; that Merlin was gay; or that he was attracted to Arthur and had thought about having sex with him. But Merlin hadn’t finished.

“…and I don’t care, you can get your homophobic head out of your arse now. Just because a gay guy finds you attractive, get over it, it’s not like I can choose which idiots I like, and being stuck in here with you has only made it worse, because you’re not actually a dick even though you speak fucking posh and you’re actually good at football. I don’t even like sports and I could tell you that. For the record, I give you permission to go to Professor Bayard as soon as we get out of here to ask to change partners for this stupid project –”

“Merlin –” Arthur tried to say, but Merlin ignored him and carried on.

“-because no doubt you won’t want to see me after this, and I won’t blame you. It might even be good for me, because you’ll stop trying to talk to me and let me get on with my life and maybe get decent shag rather than pretending it’s you wanking me off.” Merlin paused. “Oh shit, I just said all of that out loud, didn’t I?”

“You did.” Arthur stood up, trying not to knock anything off the shelves behind him. “It was quite a fascinating insight into your mind.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened. I think all the tension from being in here got to me –” Merlin’s voice shook as he spoke.

“Merlin, shut up before you embarrass yourself.”

“I think it’s too late for that.”

“True. I meant _really_ embarrass yourself.” Arthur edged towards Merlin, something that was hard to do in the dark. He could just about make out Merlin’s silhouette, and when he was close enough, Arthur reached out for Merlin’s hand. Merlin jumped, drawing his hand away and making a pathetic squeaking sound. Arthur had no idea how this was the same person who had been so calm and collected when there had been a killer after them.

“Now listen. Believe it or not, I don’t actually mind when gay guys find me attractive; in fact, I prefer it when they do. I won’t switch partners for this project unless you want me to because I respect you, and as previously mentioned, I don’t hate you. I don’t hate you an awful lot. I probably do the opposite of hating you, which is probably why I was so stubborn and determined to talk to you all the time. It might also contribute to why I have a bad habit of watching you take notes in lectures, because you look – I’m not sure what the word is – but you’re intelligent, and not just in the I-can-memorise-things-for-an-exam way, and, well, I admire that. Plus you’re not bad to look at.”

There was silence in the cupboard again, and it lasted long enough for Arthur to regret saying anything, but since Merlin had admitted his feelings in a roundabout way, Arthur had taken his chance. If he was shot down now, that would be unfortunate, but at least he had finally done something, after almost a year of admiring Merlin from afar and apparently adding to his issues about being bullied.

Tentatively, Arthur reached for Merlin’s hand again, and this time Merlin didn’t pull away.

“So,” Arthur said, “what now?”

**_Tuesday 13:19_**

Merlin couldn’t breathe. He was leaning against the shelves behind him, arms dangling uselessly at his side. Arthur had a hold of one hand, squeezing it slightly. His outline was barely visible, but from the volume of his voice and the way Merlin could feel the heat of his breath when he spoke, Merlin guessed that he was stood in front of him.

Somehow, he had no idea what he wanted to do: Merlin could grab Arthur and kiss him senseless, or he could not act on impulse while going through a stressful experience. There had been many times when he’d been in here with a hot guy in front of him, and Merlin had never taken any time in getting his clothes off. A few of those times, Merlin had imagined that it was Arthur whose jeans he was unzipping with his teeth, but now that his fantasy was becoming real, Merlin was hesitant. It had always been his imagination, pretending that Arthur liked him and they’d make out and have rough passionate sex in here, and as soon as they left the cupboard, everything would go back to normal, until the next time they arranged to meet. Now though, if they went through with this, Merlin had no idea what would happen afterwards.

Was that uncertainty worth not taking this chance?

“I – err – I suppose we both like each other, and – erm – we’re in a private place…”

“Hmm.” Arthur took a step forward. Merlin could feel his breath on his face and their chests brushed together.

Merlin’s mouth was dry. _When did they reach this point?_ One minute they were terrified that they were both going to die, and now Merlin had to resist the urge to pull Arthur’s face those few inches closer and kiss him.

“We could – only if you want, I mean – we could –”

Arthur took a step back and chuckled. “Honestly, how often do you do this? And I bet you’re blushing like a schoolboy. Relax.”

Merlin felt the heat rise in his cheeks at that, and, in a moment of determination, he reached forwards with the hand Arthur wasn’t holding, winding it around Arthur’s neck and pulling his face up to his own so that their lips met.

Arthur’s surprised yelp was muffled and quickly turned into a moan that sent vibrations through Merlin’s body. The kiss started off gentle at first, with slow sucking and tugging of the other’s lips, but it gradually grew rougher and Arthur was licking into Merlin’s mouth, his hands moving so they were at Merlin’s hips. Merlin still had one arm around Arthur’s neck, the other snaked around his waist, and he let it drift lower and squeezed Arthur’s ass. Arthur jumped, his hips jerking into Merlin’s and he could feel Arthur’s growing erection through their trousers.

Merlin let his head fall back, knocking something from its place on the shelf and it crashed to the floor. They both jumped in surprise at the loud noise as it hit the floor, and the fear that had momentarily vanished flooded through Merlin again. His stomach clenched in terror that whoever was out there had heard, but Merlin could feel his magic still surrounding the closet, keeping them from harm.

Arthur’s lips had paused millimetres away from Merlin’s, and he could feel Arthur’s breath on his face, fast and shallow. Merlin moved his arms so that they were at Arthur’s sides, rubbing them gently in an attempt to calm him down.

“Hey,” Merlin said, so quietly that he barely heard it himself. “It’ll be okay.”

He felt Arthur nod slightly, his nose brushing against Merlin’s, and then Arthur’s lips were pressed against his again. This time they were a lot more desperate, as if this was their only chance to be together.

 Arthur’s lips moved so that he was licking and sucking and kissing along Merlin’s jaw, moving down his neck and nudging Merlin’s shirt out of the way to suck at his collarbone. Merlin’s mouth dropped open, emitting a constant stream of moans or disjointed sentences begging Arthur for more. He closed his eyes, focussing on the wet feel of Arthur’s lips and tongue, as well as his painfully hard cock straining against his trousers.

“Arthur – oh god yes - Arthur…” Merlin groaned, for which he was rewarded by Arthur biting down gently on his shoulder. He jumped, and his and Arthur’s groins rubbed together again. Merlin ached for more contact, for Arthur to push down their trousers and boxers, to wrap his hand around both of their cocks and get them off together. Instead, he pulled Arthur closer to him so that the only thing separating them was the thin layer of clothes, and he could feel Arthur’s cock every time Arthur adjusted his position to suck at another area of Merlin’s neck.

Then, the sensation of Arthur’s lips against his skin was gone, along with Arthur’s body pressed against his own, and it left Merlin feeling bereft.

“Arthur – what?” Merlin started, opening his eyes to see where Arthur had gone, but it became immediately apparent when he felt fingers working at the button of his jeans.

“You said you weren’t getting on your knees for me, and someone might as well,” Merlin heard Arthur say from around waist height. Or he thought he heard him say, because he was struggling to believe that this was real - that Arthur Pendragon was going to suck him off in the library closet.

Merlin was hyper-aware of every movement Arthur’s fingers made, how he quickly unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, pushed them down with his thumbs and letting his fingers trail behind them feeling scorching hot against Merlin’s thighs. One of his hands stroked back up Merlin’s leg and along his erection through his boxers. Merlin shivered in anticipation. His throat unable to form sounds, his lips moved silently, wishing Arthur would hurry up. But he didn’t, he kept every movement, every brush of fingers against Merlin’s cock, slow and deliberate. It was torture, and at this rate Merlin would come as soon as Arthur’s lips touched him.

Arthur’s breath could be felt through Merlin’s boxers, hot and fast, and Merlin’s own breathing was erratic. His knees went weak; his fingers danced wildly along the shelf behind him searching for something to cling onto so that he wouldn’t collapse, but he wasn’t quick enough. Arthur licked a long strip up his cock through the cotton and Merlin let out a high pitched moan. He could feel Arthur’s smile as he mouthed at Merlin’s balls and licked at his cock, still oh so slowly. If he didn’t hurry up then Merlin was prepared to push down his own boxers so Arthur had no choice but to take him in and let Merlin fuck his mouth. He was about to say so when –

Two sharp taps on the door.

Arthur let out a muffled cry and jumped to his feet just as the closet door opened, spilling light into the room. Arthur stayed in front of Merlin, giving him the time to pull up his jeans while Arthur adjusted his own, before stepping to the side, and Merlin could see a handful of police wearing protective gear in the doorway.

One of the policemen coughed awkwardly.

Merlin felt his cheeks heat as he realised that his jeans were still wide open and the bulge in his boxers was fairly noticeable. He fastened his jeans again as Arthur turned around to face the open door, his own jeans buttoned up but with a still prominent erection. Merlin and Arthur avoided looking at each other, instead facing the police.

“We’ve cleared the campus and have been told to tell you that lectures are suspended for the day and the campus will stay closed,” one of the officers said. “We’re to escort you out.”

Merlin nodded mutely and followed the police officers away from the closet, Arthur behind him. Out of habit, Merlin looked both ways as he exited the closet, and instantly regretted it. The police had tried to hide it from view, but not far from their closet was a body covered in a blood stained white sheet. It made Merlin’s stomach turn, and he looked away to see Arthur walking by his side.

Arthur took his hand and squeezed it before letting go again.

**_Tuesday 13:42_**

They walked in silence through the corridors, the police in front, and Merlin and Arthur behind. Arthur could feel the heat from his face fading, and, fortunately his cock had softened so that it wasn’t noticeable by the time they reached the main study area, where they joined a few students waiting to be led out. He was still ridiculously embarrassed at being caught like that, but the overwhelming emotion at the moment was relief; they had been in that closet for hours, restless and worrying, and it was good to be out and to know that they were safe again.

Or it was, until Arthur saw Merlin stop walking out of the corner of his eye and he caught a proper look at him for the first time since leaving the closet.

Merlin’s face had gone white, his eyes looked wider than usual, and he was shaking so much he couldn’t lift his foot onto the first step on the stairs.

“Merlin?” Arthur said, fear flooding through him, and quickly snaking an arm around Merlin’s waist in case he fell. Merlin leaned into his hold, and Arthur helped him up the stairs. One of the police officers noticed them, glancing up and down at Merlin.

“He’s gone into shock. We’ll get him to an ambulance, but for now keep talking to him.”

So Arthur did. He talked about useless things, things that he had done over the summer, and things that he knew Merlin had no interest in, but Arthur talked about them nonetheless. This sudden change in Merlin scared him; Merlin had been calm the whole time they had been trapped, but Arthur supposed that he had built a wall and tried to stay focused, and now that the wall wasn’t needed, everything had come crashing down on him.

They reached the exit, and the sudden brightness of the sun hurt Arthur’s eyes. The area around the library was deserted, but as they walked to the outskirts of the campus, the heat from the sun blazing down on them, they gradually saw more and more people, some being escorted to ambulances by the police, and others milling around, huddling together under shock blankets. No one strayed far from the ambulances though, and Arthur could spot paramedics in their dark green shirts and trousers making their way through the crowd, checking on everyone to see if they were alright.

One of the paramedics spotted them as they got nearer and she hurried over to meet them.

“Is he injured?” she asked, standing on the other side of Merlin and putting her arm around his shoulders to help Arthur. Together, they walked him to the back of the ambulance where the doors were open, and sat him down on the edge.

“He’s in shock, but no injuries.” The policeman looked at Arthur, and Arthur nodded.

“Right.”

Arthur stood next to Merlin, keeping an arm around his shoulders, while the paramedic climbed into the ambulance to search for shock blankets. It didn’t take long, and she emerged with two blankets and bottles of water, draping one of the blankets around Merlin’s shoulders and pressing the water into his hands. She turned to Arthur with the other blanket and water bottle in hand.

“I’m fine.”

“I don’t care if you think you’re fine, you’re having these.”

There was no point arguing. Arthur took them, and sat down next to Merlin, pulling the blanket around him. The paramedic checked Merlin’s pulse, moving onto Arthur when she was done. She nodded, as if happy with it, and then walked away. Arthur unscrewed the cap of his bottle, about to take a drink, when he felt his phone vibrate. Pulling it out of his pocket, Arthur glanced at the caller ID – it was his father.

“Arthur, are you okay? I’ve been ringing and texting you, why weren’t you answering?” came his father’s panicked voice over the phone line.

“I’m fine, stop panicking. I was in the library, and I couldn’t get phone signal. I’m fine, though. What about you?”

“You were in the library?” Arthur heard the worry in his father’s voice increase. “Are you sure -?”

“We heard the first gunshots, went to hide, and then nothing else. Nothing happened until the police came to get us,” Arthur lied easily. There was no point in worrying his father more, especially when he was alright. It had been terrifying when they had thought they could hear the gunman’s footsteps outside, but Arthur wasn’t going to tell his father that it had been that close. “What about you?” Arthur repeated.

“I’m fine,” his father said, dismissively. “I was in my office, rang the police, and stayed out of the way until the police came.”

“Did they catch whoever it was?”

“There were two, a man and a woman. They disarmed the woman, and have taken her into custody but the man shot himself.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. Where are you?”

“Sat in an ambulance near the library.”

“You said you were fine?” The tone of his father’s voice rose again.

“They gave me a blanket.”

“Right. I’ll come and find you.”

He hung up.

It turned out that Arthur had fifteen missed calls – not all from his father though.  Some of his friends must have found out about what had happened and tried to get in contact with him. Arthur quickly typed out a brief _I’m fine, will talk to you later_ and sent it to his close friends and family who would have already heard about the shooting. He’d get time later to tell anyone else that he was okay.

As he pocketed his phone, Arthur turned to see how Merlin was, and was surprised to find him staring round at the crowd, eyes in focus, but still pale. His shoulders were slumped, and he was leaning into Arthur ever so slightly.

“Feeling better now?” Arthur asked.

Merlin nodded.

“Good. You scared me, you know. The whole time we were in there you were fine, then as soon as we got out you went pale and shaky.”

“The adrenaline wore off, I guess.” Merlin’s voice was small, almost apologetic. Arthur snorted.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, each of them taking sips of their water every now and then. The paramedic didn’t come by again. More people were being escorted to the ambulances by the police, and Arthur and Merlin seemed to have been forgotten about.

“Who were you talking to on the phone?” Merlin asked.

“My father; he’s fine. The police have spoken to him and they said they caught whoever it was.”

“There were two.”

“I know.  The other shot himself.”

Arthur took a long drink of his water. The silence stretched out longer this time, growing awkward. His father was coming, and he didn’t know how long he had, but he needed to talk to Merlin before he came.

“Merlin…” Arthur started.

“Yes?”

“Everything that happened in there… that wasn’t just because I was terrified I was going to die - well, maybe that was why I was a bit eager – but, I do actually, erm –”

“Yeah,” Merlin interrupted him. “Me, too.”

Arthur smiled sheepishly. Nothing else needed to be said, not right now. They would have plenty of time to talk, Arthur had just needed to get that out now, before he ended up ruining this before it had even started.

 Merlin grabbed the front of Arthur’s shirt – his hands still a little shaky – and pulled him into a kiss.


End file.
